Centrica has signed a lease to become one of the most expensive commercial tenants in Scotland.

The energy giant is moving its upstream oil and gas division into 60,000 square feet covering the top three floors of the s45 million iQ building in Aberdeen.

Industry sources confirmed it is paying s31 per square foot for the flagship location in Europe's oil capital.

Neither property developer Hazeldene or Centrica would comment on the pricing.

But the deal is expected to cost Centrica, which owns Scottish and British Gas, more than s1.8 million each year with the lease running for 15 years.

In August 2009 Centrica paid s1.3 billion for Aberdeen based Venture Production as part of its expansion in Scotland.

A spokeswoman from the energy company said: "The continuing expansion of the business has required us to find a larger office to accommodate our team in Aberdeen.

"This is an exciting move for Centrica Energy Upstream as, a year on from the Venture acquisition; we continue to grow our business in Aberdeen.

"We expect the move to take place later in the year."

Mark Shaw, chief executive of Hazledene, which developed the six-storey iQ building, said: "I am delighted that a company of the calibre of Centrica has identified iQ as place where they want to conduct business.

"There has been fierce competition to secure lease agreements at iQ and this is clearly good news for both the local economy in Aberdeen and for Scotland as a whole at a time when much of the news seems to be dominated by negative economic headlines."

The iQ was designed by Edinburgh-based Richard Murphy Architects and is on the former site of the Satrosphere Science Centre.

Miller Construction was the lead contractor on the building.

The previous record commercial rental holder in Scotland was Microsoft which paid s31 per square foot for the top floor of its Edinburgh office at Waverley Gate in 2008 but it paid a lower s29.50 for its space in the rest of the building.